The World's Deep Needs Outside the Classroom

Westminster students with Beacon Height Elementary students Great Salt Lake Fall semester 2008

True vocation joins service and self. The deepest vocational question is not "What ought I to do with my life?" It is the more elemental and demanding "Who am I?"
~Palmer Parker

Palmer Parker--writer, teacher, activist, and named as one of the 30 most influential senior leaders in higher education--offers the question How do you find the right work?

Often times leaving the walls of a classroom and entering into community, neighborhoods, and landscapes free of white boards and PowerPoint presentations gives students a deeper glimpse into the world cradling their college experience.





Westminster students partnered with a group of 6th grade students on the shores of the Great Salt Lake for a writing workshop connected with the Common Ground read, which is a book read by all in-coming freshman. This year the book was Refuge, by Terry Tempest Williams.

Both groups benefited from a day spent "outside of the classroom" where the strong smell of salt and deep learning were present.



Conversations about the lake, education, and the writing process, taught all of the students about landscapes of the self.


Vanessa Jordan (middle) a freshman from Arizona, returned to Beacon Heights spring semester 2009 on her own. Even though this service is within a mile of our campus, Vanessa's reasons for returning are large:

• She is observing children for fieldwork in her psychology class
  
• She is also enrolled in a service-learning class
• She wants to help meet the needs of a classroom of all-day kindergartners

"Vanessa helps me with my math and my take-aways. She helps me learn about money and pennies. She smiles when she knows I am sad." Willa (kindergartner)

Another kindergartner--Sabine says "Vanessa helps me to build. She gives me contests and helps me know what to do. She makes school exciting."

Perhaps some say bigger things need to happen with service like larger outcomes, more international outreach, and more attention on meeting the needs of at-risk groups. But Vanessa has quietly found a way to meet the deep needs of the world when she exits the college-classroom and enters a classroom filled with possibilities every Tuesday and Thursday morning. She teaches small students how to be engaged, as she herself is engaged at Westminster College. Being out of the classroom, Vanessa has defined who she is by what she is doing.

In her own words, Vanessa writes about her experiences outside the classroom:

I was introduced to the student’s of Beacon Heights Elementary School through a Learning Community fall semester 2008. Coming from out of state, this was a wonderful opportunity for me to feel more connected to Salt Lake City. I began by providing writing aide to a few fifth grade students, for their assignment they were asked to discuss why the Great Salt Lake was important to their community. This opportunity gave me the chance to develop some strong connections with the students and I was impressed by the student’s appreciation for the Great Salt Lake. The fifth graders ability to share their insights with me let me feel a new connection to Salt Lake City. For the first time I began to feel like Salt Lake City was my new home and that I could feel as passionate as the fifth graders about this home.

I decided to come back the next semester to aide the kindergarten classroom. This opportunity was provided from both my Developmental Psychology class and my Service Learning class. I am a Developmental Psychology major and was able to observe and interact with the Kindergarten students. I have noticed that there is something so special about children’s influence on people. These children are extremely bright and welcoming. Everyday I am able to go to the classroom I feel uplifted by their presence. I have realized that being in children’s company is something that I feel I would like to do in my career. From the Kindergartner’s I have learned just how simple it is to feel happy and I have found that their happiness stays with me throughout the day.

Fredrick Buechner defines vocation as the place where your "deep gladness meets the world's deep needs."
~posted by Leslie Robbins and Vanessa Jordan

Service Learning Scholars Stephani, Joyce, Tina, and Teri reflect on thier service last year:

Stephanie Woodward volunteers at St. Marks Hospital ER (07-08):

“I love having the power to do little things to make somebody’s day better. I love helping people in our community and I hope that someday I can help make people’s days in all different parts of the world…I feel like my continual involvement in service is helping me to grow as a person and to become more aware.”

Joyce Morales describes her experience volunteering to serve food to the homeless on “Homeless Breakfast Day” (07-08):

“[I]t surprised me how some people did not appear homeless. I think a good quarter of the people could pass as middle-income persons. In addition, their attitude was mainly positive perhaps because they were anxious to get a warm meal. Then I wondered [about] the possibility that this was their only meal that day or ever for a few days. This is when I realized what a privileged and spoiled life I have lived. How much I take for granted, such as a simple meal that I usually have three times a day.”

Tina Clark talks about making knit hats for babies at Primary Children’s Hospital:

“All around the world there are babies and children that don’t have enough warm clothing and when I think about these hats, I know I can make a difference. My difference to the world is small, I know, but it is helpful and it is for now, all I can do. I am happy to know that I am doing my best to help other people’s lives. People I have never met.”
(we could use one of Tina's pictures as well)

Teri Elliott explains the many benefits of volunteering at St. Marks Hospital (07-08):

“This volunteering position has provided me with many opportunities in addition to service. I have been able to become friends with some of the nurses. One nurse, Early, I am really close with and she allows me to come in and watch some of her work with the patients. The other day, for instance, she let me come in and watch her give a patient and IV and draw blood. This was really cool because I want to go into medicine and haven’t seen these kings of things very much.”
For more information about the Service Lerning Scholar Program visit http://www.westminstercollege.edu/civic_engagement/ and click on "service-learning."

~edited by AP

Heaven for Haven Reflections

Today's guest post is by Sarah Zoe Pike, a junior at Westminster College majoring in Communication and English. Sarah organized and lead a great group of students into the community to lighten the burdens of the women at Rescue Haven, a local Women's Shelter in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thanks Sarah and Rikki. And thank you to all of the students who made this event happen!


During the month of January I had the opportunity to help lead and organize an event for a group of women at Rescue Haven - serving them dinner and dessert, and making gift bags for them. We called it "Heaven for Haven."

The Center For Civic Engagement hosted a morning where we put together poetry books and handmade valentine's, and then we compiled the gift bags - 14, one for each woman - full of Valentine's Day cards, poetry books, a mix CD full of some mellow encouraging songs, fuzzy pink socks, shampoo, lotion, and a few other small treasures.

The day came, and after loading everything up in the cars, a group of ten Westminster students were on our way. A sweet younger woman invited us in, and we headed straight to the kitchen.

All of the women sat around the large table and we came around to take their orders - a bread bowl with two choices of soup, salad, and lemonade. Afterwards, it was game time - Apples to Apples, a simple, fun, funny comparison game. There were over 20 of us playing, so we teamed up in pairs. All of the women had a blast, and were smiling and laughing the whole time.

After Apples to Apples we served special Valentine's Day cupcakes and brownies and handed out the gift bags. The women were just grateful to have visitors, so the extra gifts were greatly appreciated. They quickly began reading the quotes out loud from the Valentine's Day cards we made, thumbing though the poetry books, and sniffing the scented hand lotions. Hopefully, there was some item in each bag that served a special smile for each woman. We ended the night with hugs and special thanks from everyone - students and women.

It was such a great experience to gather with a group of students from all over campus and enjoy a night with others in my community. I believe a few athletic teams on campus have even decided to team up for the Center for Civic Engagement in the future to go back Rescue Haven.

Initially I was a little nervous to how the evening would play out – Would it be uncomfortable? Would the women have fun? What would we talk about? To our surprise, all of the unknowns were wiped away the minute we began serving them dinner. To see such gratitude for doing so little was truly a gift.

One of the students that joined us that night was my roommate, Ulrikke (Rikke) Nicolaisen. Rikke is a freshman at Westminster, coming all the way from Oslo, Norway to be on our first year (and now nationally ranked) ski team. Below are some of her insights from the night.

“What a great night! As a student from Norway I am not used to be involved in volunteer work. I am impressed with the American society and how good they are at devoting time and energy to help other people in greater need than themselves. This is definitely a field where Norwegians have something to learn from the Americans, and something I want to do again. It was so nice to spend time with these women who all have gone through different problems in their past. We served them dinner and played games with them. The thankfulness, laughter and smiles they showed was very touching and it made me realize how little effort it takes to help and make other people happy. This is something that I will carry with me not only in these types of situations but as a reminder in my daily life and to the people around me."

~edited LR

Habitat for Humanity January 31, 2009

Despite having too many volunteers and too little work to do, Kayla and Joey enjoyed their service experience. In response to these comments, Westminster’s Habitat for Humanity Club has reduced the number of slots available for each build. With fewer volunteers, everyone will have the chance to participate in full! Our next build is on Saturday, March 21. If you’re interested in volunteering, email Ashley at asp0806@westminstercollege.edu.

“I made it to the build the other week and I had a really good time... It was a lot of fun. I had a great time working with some new people. We leveled off dirt for the foundation of the house and then covered it in gravel. I had a real blast. I look forward to the next opportunity to volunteer!” –Joey Cathcart

“We took “blankets” off of a house foundation, tried to level out the dirt, and then poured rocks on top and leveled those out before putting the blankets back on again. We did this so that a concrete company could finish up the foundation the next weekend…I felt like there were too many volunteers and not enough work…We could’ve done double the work in half the time… I’ll probably do it again, but I felt that is was pretty inefficient.” –Kayla Whidden

~edited by AP

Words From Grace

We are delighted to have a guest post by Grace Miller, a Westminster student who recently enrolled in the America Reads program. A few days a week she tutors at Nibley Park Elementary, which is a local k-8 school near campus. It's exciting that her tutoring has led to other service opprutnities within the school. Thanks Grace!

I have been working at Nibley Park School for a little over a month now and I absolutely love it. It used to be hard for me to keep a job longer than two weeks simply because it became routine and boring. But working at a school, there is always something new and different happening each time I go there.

I was able to help out with the Valentines Day dance which was exactly how they show in the movies! There was a disco ball and a table with punch and cake. Of course the boys were dancing on one half of the gym while the girls stood on the other half. They brought out glow sticks and made sure to switch between girl’s choice slow dances and boy’s choice. The painful awkwardness got a little intense sometimes and made me wonder how I ever made it though middle school. I can tell you how nice it is being on the other side now, and only being a witness of the overwhelming feelings.

Because the school is kindergarten through eighth grade, I get to work with both the little kids and the older ones. It is fun being able to remember back to when I was in first grade learning how to read chapter books and then being able to relate to the embarrassing feeling of knowing your crush found out you liked him.

Working at the elementary school is so amazing. My hope is to continue to work there until I graduate.

~edit by LR

Gathering In--Hygeine Kits on MLK Day

The campus was buzzing on MLK day. For the National Day of Service we assembled Hygiene Kits for the IRC (International Refugee Center). Throughout the month of January, the resident halls were big supporters as they collected shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, soap, razors, etc.


We partnered with a local elementary school in the community, Beacon Heights, where one student lead the service efforts as part of her Hope of America Award. The school collected enough laundry soap for 1,000 loads of laundry. A Beacon Heights parent also contacted Albertson's to donate recyclable bags for each hygiene kit. A handful of Beacon students came to our campus to help assemble the kits. Thank you Beacon Heights community.


Thanks to Westminster students and members from the community who engaged in service and civility on a day that is often looked at as "a day off." We ended up with eighty hygiene kits total, equaling a lot of shoulder-to-shoulder camaraderie.
~~posted by Leslie Robbins

Circles of Civic Engagement

Enlarging the circles and breeding awareness have been foundational goals for Spring Semester 2009 at the Center for Civic Engagement. Westminster College provides fertile soil for students to be service-oriented. Opportunities surround students where they can be civically engaged in public spheres, both in academic and neighborhood communities.

In essence, this blog creates a space where we catalogue the physical and inner geographies of our experiences as students and faculty. Guest posts will provide a myriad of voices so that events and reflections are safely recorded indicating and bearing record that WE WERE ENGAGED. More importantly, our hope is that this engagement is ever-present in the minds and souls of those within our academic community, resonating and forming a life-long presence. ~posted by Leslie Robbins